Retail merchandise display is very important to the retail industry. Products need to be displayed in a visually appealing manner and the display device must be able to hold an adequate volume of product such that the display does not become quickly emptied. Typical means of displaying retail merchandise for sale includes shelving or display hooks connected to a vertical support. However, in many instances, retail establishments will attach additional strip display devices to a shelving unit or at an end of aisles and stock these devices with impulse goods or other point-of-purchase product such as, for example, small toys or candy. These devices will typically hang from a support hook or device that is cantilevered from the shelf or the end of the aisle.
Many strip merchandising devices are known in the art. Among the many strip merchandising devices include elongated plastic support strips that include a plurality of axially spaced attachment tongues that extend outward from the strips. The tongues are typically integrally formed with the plastic strips and are merely cut out of the strip material. However, the tongues may be subsequently attached to the elongated support strips. Such plastic support strip devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,070 to Jaynes. These devices are cheap to manufacture but are limited to a relatively small volume of light weight product because the tongues are typically short and can be flimsy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,422 to Shea attempted to provide a larger volume strip-type merchandise display. For example, the Shea patent discloses the use of a more rigid corrugated elongated strip having a plurality of holes for securing rigid peg hooks to the elongated strip. Unfortunately, when a single strip according to the teachings of Shea is used, the peg hook mounts are visible on the opposite side of the strip as the support arm of the peg hooks. If two strips are used in a back-to-back configuration the peg hook mounts are visible from the side of the strips. Additionally, in the back-to-back configuration, the positioning of the peg hook mounts between the two back-to-back strips causes interference between the strips causing them to separate from one another further degrading the visual appearance of the device.
There is therefore a need in the art for an improved strip-type display device that is strong enough to support peg hooks for large quantities of product while remaining visually appealing. Such a device would preferably be modular, practical and reliable.